The three Amur Falcons that had been fixtures on the power
lines near Suncheon Bay for a week were joined by a fourth on October 15th,
but the best bird of the day by far was an Eastern Water Rail skulking in a
reedy ditch. After catching a quick ‘Moorhen-like’
view of it scuttling to cover, I lay on the ground, and after a few minutes,
the bird came out and fed among the reeds.
I spent an amazing 30 minutes watching it sneak around the murky
reedscape. At times it vanished, only to
burst suddenly from cover and comically skid to a stop, like a reluctant performer
being pushed on stage.

Also seen in fields
were six Far Eastern Skylarks, still about 20 Barn Swallows, 15 Stejneger’s
Stonechat, two Far Eastern Cisticola, the first Grey-capped Greenfinch I have
seen for quite some months, and at least ten Black-faced Buntings. The day was also ‘Peak Motacilli-day’, with
eight pipit and wagtail species observed.
The seafront saw an influx of Eurasian Magpies, with over 20 seen
milling about the area restlessly.

Amazingly, three
days later another Eastern Water Rail (or the same one?!) was spotted in the
morning gloom, at a site almost 2 km from first.
This bird was seen as it walked casually along a trail just after dawn. It melted into a reedbed, but returned
cautiously several minutes later, and we watched each other for five minutes.

Other observations
included four Amur Falcons still, a dozen Far Eastern Skylark, a Black-browed
Reed Warbler, and two relatively confiding Yellow-breasted Buntings. There was a notable absence of swallows and
martins overhead. A probable Middendorff’s
Warbler was briefly observed as it jumped around near the ground in a muddy
patch of reeds. Thanks as always to my
fellow Birds Koreans for helping me puzzle through this tricky ID.

On October 23rd,
Hooded Cranes returned to Suncheon Bay, with a total of 29 seen drifting
overhead restlessly, unable to find a quiet field to land in for quite some
time. The other highlight of the day was
an inquisitive Siberian Rubythroat, that watched me from several metres away as
I staged an unsuccessful stakeout in an effort to re-find the original Eastern
Water Rail. Other notable birds at the
bay today included two Bean Geese, perhaps 70 Oriental Turtle Doves, 20+ Far Eastern
Skylarks, a similar number of Chinese Penduline Tits heard from the reeds, and
nine Grey-capped Greenfinch perched on wires.

Dawn on October 25th
saw Hooded Crane numbers up to 38, eight flyby Eurasian Spoonbills, and low
double-digit number of Greater White-fronted Goose and Bean Goose. Later in the morning, an influx of ducks was
noted on and around the bay, with 200+ Spot-billed Ducks and half that number
of Mallards, with several Common Pochard and Northern Pintails on the periphery. Still plentiful were Far Eastern Skylarks,
but there was a paucity of pipit species, with only Olive-backed seen today. Two quick flybys had me scratching my head on
the way out – a distant unidentified buteo-looking raptor drifting past in bad
light, then a small, light starling.
Late Chestnut-cheeked perhaps?

This week, both
Eastern Water Rail sites have been heavily disturbed/destroyed by the
relentless construction that has been steadily trashing some of the most
productive habitat I’ve ever seen for residents and staging migrants. Perhaps the rails were going to overwinter, but
it’s doubtful if they are still there now, what with the dump-trucks rumbling by
several feet away every few minutes. So
far, a formerly quiet stretch of coastal rice fields has had four massive pits
(each at least the size of a football pitch, or bigger) gouged out, with two being
filled in with concrete already. Is this
to make way for more solar panels that no one here wants? It is massively frustrating and depressing to
watch the destruction of such amazing habitat.
“Suncheon Green City” indeed.

Away from the bay, the
hills around town are bustling with a healthy assortment of tits, but no sign
of winter finches or thrushes yet. A very hazy day (hazy all week) on the 24th,
with two Japanese Wagtails spotted on a downtown stream.

Monday, October 12, 2015

Yellow-breasted BuntingEmberiza
aureola- an endangered species whose population has plummeted in recent years

juvenile Yellow-breasted Bunting Emberiza
aureola

Amur Falcons Falco amurensis

Temmick's Stint Calidris temminckii

It has been an
exciting couple of weeks at Suncheon Bay, with a trickle of rarely-seen
migrants and seasonal turnover keeping me on my toes. With winds regularly blowing down from the
Bohai Bay, that feeling that ‘anything’ could turn up helps get me out of bed
in the pre-dawn murk. On October 2nd,
a strange sight for the bay was about 30 Brown-eared Bulbuls moving across the
mudflats – do they seasonally migrate?
Eight Stejneger’s Stonechats and a similar count of Far Eastern Cisticolas,
an Arctic Warbler still, and three Yellow-breasted Buntings were highlights.

Two days later, shorebird
numbers, especially curlews and godwits, seemed to be much reduced. Pipits ruled several newly-harvested rice fields,
with five Richard’s, two Pechora, and five Buff-Bellied Pipits seen. Two
raucous Black-Browned Reed Warblers, a personal first for the site, and three Arctic
Warblers were spotted in the coastal reedy scrub.

October 6th
marked a return of construction crews to the bay, who toiled noisily at digging
up a former rice field. A relay of four
dump trucks transported endless loads of muddy soil west to a growing heap
near a solar energy farm. One wonders
what these three new huge craters at this sensitive site will be used for. Water reservoirs? Foundations for massive new buildings? More solar panels? Sightings for the
day included the first Little Grebe of the fall, a flyby Black-faced Spoonbill,
four Northern Shovelers, three Northern Pintails, perhaps a half dozen Far
Eastern Skylarks overhead, three Richard’s, four Pechora, and more than ten Buff-Bellied
Pipits, at least ten Stejneger’s Stonechats, four Far Eastern Cisticolas, the Black-Browed
Reed Warblers still, and two Yellow-breasted and two Black-faced Buntings. In addition, my run of mammalian luck
continued, with my personal first sighting of an Amur Leopard Cat. Seen from fairly far off, it sat on a trail
for a while, then stalked off into a ditch.

On October 9th,
ducks were increasing in number and variety, with more Shovelers and Pintails
seen amongst the Mallards, Eastern Spot-billed Ducks, and Eurasian Teals. Moving inland to get away from construction
noise and dust proved a fortuitous move.
Three Amur Falcons were soon spotted hawking insects above the rice fields,
and even eating them on the wing at times, Hobby-like. Several Common Snipes and pipits were put up
as a result of the low-level activity. Best
of the day was a juvenile Grey-headed Lapwing, which I almost stumbled over as
I came around a corner on a small trail between rice fields. It gave spectacular flight views before
dropping down into a nearby muddy pond, almost disappearing amidst the
lapwing-coloured mud. It was
well-watched for close to an hour as it casually paced, preened, and rested. High single-digit numbers of four pipit species
(Richard’s, Pechora, Buff-bellied, and Red-throated) were seen in and over the
fields, and the morning ended with several Black-faced and Chestnut-eared
Buntings, and a Siberian Rubythroat that haltingly flushed across a path.

The next day on nearby
‘Flying Squirrel Mountain’, ten Oriental Honey Buzzards, four Grey-faced
Buzzards, and two Northern Hobby were a treat to watch as they rode the wind currents. On the way down, a Japanese Sparrowhawk was seen at a grave site, as well as the season’s first six Olive-backed
Pipits.

A complete lack of
swallows on the 9th was counterbalanced by renewed hirundine action
overhead on the 11th, with about 40 Barn Swallows, half that number
of Red-rumped Swallows, and three Sand Martins feeding over the fields. Other notable sightings included a Northern Hobby,
two Amur Falcons still, and a drab Temminck’s Stint mixed in with eight
slightly-larger Red-necked Stints. A
single Grey-faced Buzzard flew across the bay headed southwest. A rare day off for the construction crews
meant a mercifully quiet morning, and a renewal in small bird activity in the
scrub around ‘the pit’. A dozen Stejneger’s
Stonechat now, with four Far Eastern Cisticolas sprinkled in, three Yellow-breasted
Buntings (including what seemed to be a juvenile bird), a cracking male Chestnut-eared
Bunting nearby, and a dozen Black-faced Buntings scattered among the ditches. Several Far Eastern Skylarks were heard
overhead, and an Arctic Warbler lurked nervously in a small patch of coastal
trees, where it has been since September 24th.

Two weekends ago, Loghry and I took a much-needed bird trip over Chuseok, Korea's Thanksgiving. Our original plan to hit Gageo-do was scuppered by forecast high winds that would have meant trouble for the ferry, so we opted for Seosan, an agricultural coastal plain about halfway up South Korea's west coast. We started things out in Suncheon, scoping out my patch at the bay. Nothing too nutsoids, but duck variety and numbers were up, and it was fun picking through shorebirds with Loghry's scope. The trip north to Seosan was slowed to a crawl at times by the infamous Chuseok traffic, that sees 35+ million Koreans take to the roads. Ugh. Acting on some hot tips from fellow Birds Koreans, we checked a few spots that have been known to host Pheasant-tailed Jacana and Watercock (shakes both fists, muttering oaths) in the past, but it was most likely a touch too late in the year for those specials. The rice fields kept us busy as we picked through the many snipes and pipits skulking in ditches. We had quite a few Common Snipes, Buff-bellied Pipits, and a few Red-throated Pipits as well - always an exciting species to watch, although the first year birds can be tricky to separate from Buff-bellied, especially at a distance. A few pacing Black-faced Spoonbills were a welcome sight among the egrets, as Black-browed Reed Warblers skulked among the reeds. The bird of the trip was Jason's first (and my second) Pied Avocet. Gorgeous bird! "Th-Th-That's not a Shelduck!!" Giddy high-fives all-round. Visible for miles on a hillside was Seosan Birdland - a ridiculous eyesore that appears to be nothing more than another wasteful and poorly-conceived tourist trap. Busloads of visitors can gawk at stuffed birds, climb on giant fibreglass cartoon birds, play with touch-screens, and buy t-shirts and hot dogs on sticks. It doesn't appear that birders, the local landscape, or indeed birds were considered when this repugnant white elephant was birthed.

Sunday, October 4, 2015

While hiking a new mountain outside of Suncheon yesterday, Helly and I were lucky enough to have a rare encounter with a Siberian Flying Squirrel. These shy and mostly nocturnal critters are not often seen, but apparently the females and young sometimes feed during the day. A quick search online shows them listed as endangered in Korea (but not protected), and apparently they aren't meant to be found in this part of the peninsula. I spotted this one by almost walking into it - it was clinging to a tree at eye level, and for a moment I couldn't figure out what I was looking at. Slightly larger than a chipmunk, all I initially saw were the massive oil-drop eyes and a tangle of bunched-up armpit 'wings'. It eventually scuttled silently up the tree and watched us watch it for several minutes, before...lift-off. The squirrel repositioned itself a few times, then hurled itself off the branch. It fell straight down for a moment, then spread its limbs and swooped upwards, gliding expertly to a tree perhaps 50 feet away. It looked like a rectangular grey sheet of A4 paper, its tail flattened out and acting as a rudder. A truly stunning encounter - when it flew, I actually forgot to breathe for about 20 seconds. We feel very fortunate to have shared a moment with this exceedingly shy and gorgeous creature.

About Me

Howdy! I'm a birder from Montreal who has been working and birding in South Korea since 2005. I've lived on Jeju and Geoje Islands, and have birded at a diverse range of sites in South Korea. After drifting around Europe for a bit, I'm back in Suncheon, Korea for one last hurrah. Ergo sum ego avem. (contact me at mattpoll24 at gmail dot com)